The Children of the State Act 1918, also known as the Children’s Charter, The Children’s Act and by its full title ‘An Act to consolidate and amend Youthful Offenders, Destitute and Neglected Children’s Act, 1896’, make better provision for the Protection, Control, Maintenance, and Reformation of Neglected and Destitute Children, and for other purposes’” (Act…
The Children of the State Department replaced the Neglected Children’s Department. The Department oversaw the care of wards of state. In 1934, the new Social Services Department took over the role of the Children of the State Department, although the name persisted in annual reports well into the 1940s. The Children of the State Act,…
The Neglected Children’s Department, was originally established in March 1897. In 1901, following Australian federation, the newly formed state government took the Department over. It was the first government department in Tasmania that specifically managed children who were considered to be offenders or neglected. In 1918, the Children of the State Department replaced the Neglected…
The Charitable Grants Department, also known as the office of the Administrator of Charitable Relief, was established in 1873. It provided outdoor relief, that is, funds or food given to poor people not living in an institution. The Department also administered legislation relating to the care of destitute children, including the boarding out system introduced…
The Mental Health Act 1963 with the full title ‘An Act to repeal the Mental Hospitals Act 1858, the Mental Deficiency Act 1920, and certain other enactments relating to persons suffering from mental disorder, and to make fresh provision with respect to the treatment and care of persons so suffering, and with respect to their…
The Domestic Service Assistance Scheme, managed by the Department of Social Services and its successors, was established by the Domestic Service Assistance Act 1947. It provided a housekeeper or temporary accommodation for children during a family emergency which left no one able to look after them. The Scheme ended in about 1989. The Domestic Service…
The Adoption of Children Act 1968 was passed in response to the Commonwealth government’s push for model legislation to harmonise adoption law in Australia. The 1968 Act made it mandatory for an assessment of potential adoptive parents to be undertaken. It also made private adoptions illegal, making it unlawful for private individuals or unauthorised organisations…
The Adoption of Children Act 1920 made the first legal provision for adoption in Tasmania. There was no requirement for an assessment of the adoptive parent to be undertaken and guardianship of the child transferred directly from the birth parent to the adoptive parent. This practice changed with the passage of the Adoption of Children…
The Child Protection Act 1974 (Act No.104/1974) was intended to protect children under 12 from abuse. The long title of the Act was ‘An Act to provide further and better protection for children of tender years who have suffered from beatings or other cruel treatment’. Before its introduction, Tasmanian child welfare legislation had focused more…
The Child Welfare Act 1960 with the full title “An Act to consolidate and amend certain enactments relating to children and other persons who have not attained the age of twenty-one years” (Act no.48/1960) set out the provisions by which a child who was 16 years or younger could be made a ward of the…
Dec 18, 2024
Nov 15, 2024
